J*A*S*M

The incarnation of grey average. Films like this are the worst to review because they aren’t bad enough to simply trash, but it’s almost impossible to find something worth praising. Homecoming takes inspiration from Misery (and at least a hundred other films), but it’s a lot tamer, if we consider modern trends. Probably there wasn’t enough money for something bigger.

A very pleasant surprise. Extraordinarily serious psychological horror (unlike my expectations of entertaining B-movie silliness) with an unsettling atmosphere and good performances. It doesn’t have any annoying teenagers or stupid heroes whose behaviour is impossible to comprehend, but living characters with credible behaviour and motivations (though the character of the mother would be very easy to hate with another actress). But you shouldn’t expect gore, that’s not what this is about – there are a couple of blood splatters and corpses, but no more than that. Josef Rusnak gets a lot of out of the premise, delivering a film made with ambition that may not scare you (though there are a couple of moments), but that has plenty of tension. The CGI child monster is fortunately shown only once, and it would have been even better without it, because it looks very bad. Otherwise, I’m very satisfied, it’s better than the recent Grace.

Another boring new horror comedy that follows the tradition that horror films with insects or animals in the main roles are usually bollocks. I hate bugs, I can’t think of a more disgusting creature, so in theory it shouldn’t have been a problem for the film to have an effect on me, but it fails even at that. The bugs in Infestation are awfully digital and the repulsiveness of real insects got lost somewhere. Otherwise, there’s nothing else to say, it’s just your typical lousy B-movie with a classic ending. 4/10

I’m not a fan of Tim Burton and it’s unlikely I’ll ever be. I find his worlds full of bizarre characters annoying and childish more than anything else.

The fight scenes aren’t cool, they are ridiculous.

A weird romance, well acted but badly written. In the world it takes place (normal reality), that script doesn’t work at all. Either the behaviour and the motivations of the characters would have to change completely, or the rules of that world. In its unaltered form, it’s weird, ineffective and detached from reality nonsense, but watchable nonetheless. PS: At certain moments the great Jack Nicholson reminded me of myself (the way he walks on the pavement, I do that sometimes :-D…) and it scared me quite a bit.

Los Angeles: 5/5 New York: 5/5 Paris: 4/5 Rome: 3/5 Helsinki: 4/5

The more of his films I watch, the more I like Smith’s style, and until I watch another one, Mallrats is the best.

An animated flick that milks the emotions of the viewer with the same ease as the best live action dramas. In the moments when this happens, the simplicity and lack of originality of the story is a shame, it pops the balloons and brings down this bitter-funny gem, not in any drastic way, but enough to make it lose one star. Otherwise, I agree that the first 10 minutes are probably the best sequence I’ve ever seen in an animated film.

One of the few gangster movies that I’ve really liked. This time the protagonist is not an insufferable arrogant criminal, but the likeable and honourable Al Pacino, someone you can root for. That’s what I miss in other similar movies and the reason why I don’t like them in general. I didn’t have this problem with Carlito’s Way and I was able to truly enjoy this good quality film. Sean Penn delivers a superb performance, I didn’t recognise him at first.